1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the use of a bio-signal, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for perceiving a physical and emotional state using a bio-signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Detecting or measuring a human bio-signal was studied and applied mainly in medicine in the initial stage. That is, in order to check the health condition of a patient or treat patients referring to blood pressure or a pulse rate, a bio-signal detected or measured is used. Recently, bio-signals are applied in the field of man-machine interfacing for understanding a person""s emotions, as well as in the medicine. Particularly, it is considered to be essential to be able to perceive a person""s emotions using a bio-signal in order to enable more convenient and familiar communication between man and machine. Accordingly, a variety of apparatuses for detecting or measuring a bio-signal (or a physiological signal) and using it have been developed.
An apparatus for measuring bio-information using an ear-receiver type Photo-electric pulse PlethysmoGraph (PPG) sensor, which is disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 1999-63100, and a real time bio-signal monitoring system using wireless communication networks, which is disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 1997-14722, are conventional portable bio-signal measuring apparatuses. However, such conventional apparatuses are disadvantageous in that they are not easy to attach to a human body, or in that it is inconvenient for people to move with them attached.
Among conventional bio-signal measuring apparatuses, emotion perceiving apparatuses are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,291 entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and an Associated Apparatus for Remotely Determining Information as to Person""s Emotional Statexe2x80x9d and U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,454 entitled xe2x80x9cInteractive Man-Machine Interface for Simulating Human Emotionsxe2x80x9d. However, these conventional apparatuses have the same problems described above.
When conventional emotion perceiving apparatuses are used for perceiving a person""s emotions, the person should make an artificial effort, for example, the person should always direct his/her face toward a camera so that his/her facial expression can be seen well, or the person should speak words expressing his/her emotions. Accordingly, the person""s emotions cannot be naturally transmitted to such conventional apparatuses. In addition, conventional emotion perceiving apparatuses have many restrictions, for example, they may not perceive a specific emotion and they infer an emotion from only reactions to previously and artificially made-up emotional stimuli.
To solve the above problems, it is a first object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for perceiving a physical and emotional state, which is easily attached to and detached from a human body and through which a bio-signal is simply detected.
It is a second object of the present invention to provide a method for perceiving a physical and emotional state using the above apparatus for perceiving a physical and emotional state.
It is a third object of the present invention to provide a method for perceiving an emotional state using a bio-parameter or bio-parameters extracted from a bio-signal detected for a short or long time.
Accordingly, to achieve the first object of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for perceiving a physical and emotional state. The apparatus includes a bio-signal detection part attached to a predetermined portion of a body for performing analog signal processing on at least one bio-signal detected from the body and outputting the processed bio-signal, and a bio-signal recognizing part for performing digital signal processing on the processed bio-signal received from the bio-signal detection part, perceiving the physical and emotional state from the result of the digital signal processing, and reporting the physical and emotional state.
To achieve the second object of the invention, there is provided a method of perceiving a physical and emotional state, including the steps of performing analog signal processing on at least one bio-signal detected from a body, and performing digital signal processing on the analog signal processed bio-signal, perceiving the physical and emotional state from the result of the digital signal processing, and reporting the physical and emotional state.
To achieve the third object of the invention, there is provided a method of perceiving an emotional state, including the steps of extracting at least one bio-parameter representing a characteristic of a body from at least one bio-signal which is detected from the body for a predetermined time, and determining the amount of variation of the extracted bio-parameter and determining a current emotional state using the determined amount of variation. The value of the bio-parameter varies with a change in the emotional state.